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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1919, No. 57 



SI 

/33? 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS 

IN JAPAN 



By 
WALTER A. MONTGOMERY 

SPECIALIST IN FOREIGN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS 



[Advance Sheets from the Biennial Survey of Education, 1916-1918] 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1919 



ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED PROM 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

AT 

5 CENTS PER COPY 



B* 01 *>* 
MK If 1923 



I h^ 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN. 

BY 

Walteb A. Montgomery, 
Specialist in Foreign Educational Systems. 



Contents. — General educational activities — Elementary instruction — Middle schools — High 
schools for girls — Higher schools- — Normal schools — Special schools— r Vocational 
schools — Technical continuation schools — Higher education — Japanese educational 
work in Formosa. 



GENERAL EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 1 

The chief educational undertakings during the year covered by 
the report were necessitated by the urgent economic conditions of 
the Japanese Empire, which were, as those of all other countries 
of the world, profoundly affected by the war. The immediate prob- 
lem, as avowed by the minister of education, was to cultivate in 
every line of governmental activity the powers of the Japanese people 
as directed toward the material development of national resources. 
Every opportunity, such as conferences of local school and secular 
authorities, of school directors, and lecture institutes, was system- 
atically utilized to emphasize essential points in national education, 
and in turn to obtain the mature opinions of all classes and individ- 
uals qualified to speak. A board appointed by the Department of 
Education investigated the educational and social conditions of the 
leading countries of the world, and reports of their findings were 
published at regular intervals, being sent to all local authorities, 
civil and educational, to the heads of all educational institutions 
above the elementary grade, and to all persons connected in an 
administrative capacity with education. 

As was to be expected from the express avowal of educational pur- 
poses, the progress in technical education was most marked. Indeed, 
Japan's unique educational fusion of traditional training in the 
national humanistic studies with that in modern science, precludes 
changes in any save the latter. Additional technical schools were 
established in a number of centers under the direct control of the 
department; and vigorous measures were taken to establish close 
and helpful relations between them and local industries and business 
interests. A cardinal purpose of these schools is to train competent 
teachers rapidly > and to distribute them in parts of the Empire where 
their need is felt to be most urgent. 

The activity of the several groups of educational workers did not 
slacken during the year covered. Conferences were held of directors 

1 This study is based upon the 43d annual report of the Minister of State for Education, 
1915-16. Translated and published by the Department of Education, Tokyo, 1918. 

133405°— 19 3 



4 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-15)18. 

of higher schools, directors of special schools of medicine, directors 
of special technical schools, directors of higher normal schools for 
men and for women, and directors of middle schools. In accordance 
with the centralized Japanese system, certain questions deemed most 
urgent of solution were selected in advance and submitted to each 
group for discussion; as a result, many helpful suggestions were 
forwarded to the minister for his consideration. Besides, the regular 
lecture institutes for teachers of elementary grade were held in the 
duly prescribed rotation of time and place, at which systematic in- 
struction was imparted in the subjects deemed most needed for the 
particular group. Especial stress was naturally laid upon the insti- 
tutes for teachers of industry, agriculture, and commerce. Both in 
subject and methods, war-time needs were had in view throughout. 

A far-reaching innovation was the initiation of a lecture institute 
for school inspectors designed " to impart general knowledge of the 
system of elementary education and of pedagogical administration to 
persons having direct supervision over local education, such as pre- 
fectural and district inspectors. Applicants are admitted upon the 
recommendation of the governmental officials of the respective locali- 
ties." The subjects taught are of interest for their practical nature: 
National morality, pedagogics, educational administration, and the 
examination of elementary school books dealing with morality, the 
Japanese language and history, school hygiene, and practice in 
teaching art, science, manual arts, and gymnastics. 

A lecture institute on school hygiene was also initiated with the 
purpose of training intensively persons having charge of school sani- 
tation. Besides the strictly technical branches, such vital topics as 
hygienics, epidemiology, educational pathology, treatment of defec- 
tive children, theoretical gymnastics, and school sanitary administra- 
tion were emphasized. As going to show the unique solidarity of 
Japanese education and as a model of educational cooperation, it is 
of interest to note that the lectures for these institutes were drawn 
from all the higher institutions, such as the Imperial University of 
Tokyo, related higher technical schools, the higher normal schools, 
and the imperial colleges of medicine. 

In this connection may be mentioned the remarkable work, both 
in theory and in popular relief work actually done, of the institute 
for the study of infectious diseases. Though not essentially peda- 
gogical, the preeminent value of this institute to national education 
was recognized during the year covered in the report, and it was put 
definitely under the control of the minister of education, and formally 
annexed to the Imperial University of Tokyo. Examinations of 
pathological specimens submitted, investigation of locally prevalent 
diseases, treatment of patients, dissection of subjects, preparation of 
serums, and holding lecture institutes were parts of the manifold 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN. 5 

activities of this organization. Under the system of sending promis- 
ing students for study abroad, formally inaugurated in 1912, a total 
of 13 were sent during the year 1915-16 to the United States, 9 to 
England, and 1 each to China and Switzerland. Courses in applied 
sciences were almost exclusively their chosen fields. 

A movement to foster respect for elementary education is seen in 
the imperial regulations relating to letters of merit* in elementary 
education, designed to honor meritorious persons connected with that 
branch. They are bestowed by the minister of education, on local 
evidence and the recommendation of a special committee, and are 
published in the Official Gazette. The recipients are elementary 
school teachers, the heads of municipalities, members of elementary 
school committees, and school physicians. During the year 1915-16 
this honor was received by 48 persons. 

The committee for the investigation of school books and charts is 
another manifestation of the efficiency which prevails in all depart- 
ments of Japanese education. Appointed by and under the super- 
vision of the minister of education, it works in three sections, the 
first examining and recasting books, charts, and manuscripts dealing 
with ethics, the second with history, and the third with the Japanese 
language. 

ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION. 

Elementary schools are divided into ordinary elementary and 
higher elementary, the former obligatory upon cities, towns, or vil- 
lages, and extending over six years ; and the latter covering two years 
additional, or three years, as local boards may decree, and provide 
funds for maintenance. Supplementary courses in continuation 
subjects, or in the development of subjects already taught, may be 
established by the approval of the minister of education. A third 
type of elementary school is that in which, under the same roof, the 
ordinary and the higher elementary courses of one or more years are 
conjointly established. It is an interesting adaptation on oriental 
soil of the school consolidation movement, the progress of which has 
been so marked in the rural districts of certain States of the Union 
during the past few years. 

A significant feature is that as compared with the figures of the 
preceding year, the schools of the individual type decreased, the 
ordinary elementary schools by 224, the higher schools by 23. In 
those of composite character, the mixture of ordinary and higher 
elementary schools, there was an increase of 267, a step evidently 
recommended on the scores both of convenience of access and econ- 
omy of maintenance. In 1915-16. there were in attendance upon the 
ordinary elementary schools 5,840,268 boys and girls, a decrease of 
156,000 from the preceding year. This perhaps may be explained 



6 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

on the assumption that even in Japan the well-administered law of 
compulsory elementary school attendance had to yield in face of the 
heavy economic pressure upon the body of the people and the demand 
of the average family for the wages of the children. The total number 
of those who had completed the ordinary elementary school course, 
and were in attendance upon the higher elementary course was 1,773,- 
099, showing a decrease of 24,000 from the preceding year, perhaps to 
be explained on the same assumption as above. Somewhat fewer than 
100,000 pupils were allowed to postpone school attendance, and 
nearly 125,000 were exempted from obligatory school attendance. 
The average percentage, for both sexes, of attendance upon pre- 
scribed course of instruction makes an even better showing than for 
the preceding year, being 98.47 as compared with 98.26. 

Teachers in elementary schools. — In 1915-16, 99,292 men and 42,830 
women taught in the ordinary elementary schools of Japan, an in- 
crease of nearly 2,000 men and slightly more than 1,000 women. In 
the higher elementary schools 17,890 men and 2,980 women were 
teachers, the numbers being practically static. 

Salaries. — Eleven categories of teachers in elementary schools, ac- 
cording to the salary received, show salaries ranging from 5 yen 1 
(probationary) to 105 yen monthly, the three categories which re- 
ceive from 10 to 25 yen including more than two-thirds of the total. 

Pensions. — In accordance with the law relating to pensions for re- 
tired teachers and to the families of deceased teachers in elementary 
schools, 1,741,959,367 yen was apportioned for pensions, and 1,715,- 
007,397 yen was expended, a marked increase over the preceding year. 

In addition an educational fund was created in 1916 for the relief 
of public elementary teachers. Loans to municipal bodies, appro- 
priations for the encouragement of elementary schools, for needy 
children, for prizes and bonuses for regular attendance, for salaries 
of elementary teachers in remote districts, for the encouragement and 
investigation of popular education, and for all purposes approved 
by the minister of education come within the purview of this most 
useful fund. A stock fund for additional salaries to teachers in 
elementary schools was created in 1900 by special law and by im- 
perial ordinance, such relief to be recommended by local authorities, 
and approved by the minister of education. Under these provisions 
about 70,000 teachers received slightly over 2,500,000 yen in addi- 
tion to regular salaries. 

MIDDLE SCHOOLS. 

Leaving the elementary school of both grades, the student is 
struck with the small numbers enrolled in the middle schools, both 
public and private, only 141,215, or 4 per cent of the number in the 

1 The yen is worth about 46 cents. 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN. 7 

elementary, being listed for 1915-16. No changes in courses or ad- 
ministration, and an increase of only 2,000 pupils in attendance are to 
be noted for this grade of instruction ; boys 12 years and over, gradu- 
ates of ordinary elementary schools are admitted, and the course 
extends over five years. The situation is significant of the essen- 
tially aristocratic character of Japanese education. The clientele of 
the middle schools i£ exclusively the official, military, and wealthy 
merchant classes, who desire for their sons the training necessary 
for these, and the university and other specialized careers. For 
their purposes the instruction and methods of the middle schools are 
admirably thorough and efficient. The courses are closely articu- 
lated with the advanced lines above mentioned, and the teachers 
are carefully selected for their training and competence. Interest- 
ing features are the steady increase during the past few years of the 
number of foreigners among them, there being 81 in 1915-16 out of 
a total of 6,443, and the subsequent careers of the graduates of regu- 
lar courses of the public middle schools. Business and the advanced 
special schools and special technical schools have attracted over 40 
per cent of the total of nearly 20,000. 

HIGH SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS. 

Corresponding to the middle schools for boys in aim and govern- 
mental establishment, but falling below them in curriculum, are the 
high schools for girls. Provisions for their establishment are identi- 
cal, both public and private, with those for the hoys' middle schools. 
A marked feature in this division of education was, for the year cov- 
ered, the expansion of domestic science courses, and the further pro- 
vision made for girls' high schools offering only domestic courses, 
and denominated officially " Domestic high" schools for girls." 

Those admitted to the course must be above the age of 12 and be graduates 
from ordinary elementary schools, or girls of equivalent attainments. The 
course of study extends over four years, when the graduates from ordinary ele- 
mentary schools are admitted ; over three years when the applicants for admis- 
sion have completed the first-year course of higher elementary schools ; over two 
or three years when they have completed the second-year course of higher ele- 
mentary schools ; and over two years when the domestic course is taken after the 
higher elementary school. Those who wish to study one or more subjects in the 
domestic course may be admitted as elective pupils. Supplementary courses 
of not more than two years may be provided in the regular high schools or 
in the domestic high schools for girls for the benefit of their graduates. A post- 
graduate course of two or three years may be provided only in regular high 
schools for the benefit of those graduates who wish to study some particular 
subjects as their specialty. 

Similarly to the two middle schools attached to the higher normals 
for men the Government maintains two high schools for girls at- 
tached to the Tokyo and the Nara Higher Normal School for Women. 
Together they enrolled, for the year covered, abort 900 students, a 



8 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

slight increase over the preceding year. There were also 162 public 
high schools for girls, enrolling 58,009 students, and 125 public 
domestic high schools for girls, enrolling 1 7,370 students. Under 
private management there were 59 high schools for girls, enrolling 
16,889 students, and 18 domestic high schools for girls, enrolling 
2,7-17 students. A slight increase in all enrollments over that for 
the preceding year is seen. 

HIGHER SCHOOLS. 

A trend visible for the past four years in the higher schools is 
noteworthy. Higher schools, as the term is used in Japan, are sec- 
ondary institutions for boys in which preparatory courses are of- 
fered for entrance into the imperial universities. There are eight 
such schools, located in centers of population and industry. As 
originally contemplated in the ordinance relating to higher schools 
(1905), the higher schools were also to provide special courses in 
professional training, and they did so provide them until the de- 
velopment of these into independent institutions, which then ranked 
as special technical schools. With this, all such appended courses 
disappeared, during the year under consideration, from the cur- 
riculum of the higher schools. For admission to higher schools, 
graduation from middle schools, or the passing of test examinations 
prescribed, along with careful physical examination, is required. 
Following, therefore, exclusively the narrower field of preparation 
for the imperial universities, the work of the higher schools has 
come to be divided into three departments, devoted respectively to 
the preparation of students for the college of law or literature ; for 
the college of pharmacy, engineering, science, or agriculture; and 
for the college of medicine. 

NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

In Japan the normal training of teachers is given in — 

(1) Normal schools aiming to train teachers for elementary 
schools, of which there must be at least one in each prefecture. They 
admit to the first section graduates of the higher elementary schools 
of three-year .courses, graduates of their own preparatory course, 
and boys of 15 or girls of 14, at the discretion of the director ; and to 
the second section graduates of middle schools or boys of 17 and girls 
of 16, at the discretion of the director. The courses in each section 
cover one year. 

2. (a) The two higher normal schools for men, which train teach- 
ers for normal schools, middle schools, and girls' high schools. 

( b) The two higher schools for women, training teachers for girls' 
normals, girls' departments in normals, and high schools for girls. 

Both admit graduates of elementary normal schools and of public 
and private middle schools on competitive examinations. The 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN. 9 

courses in both are identical, except for manual arts and domestic 
arts courses, and extend over three years. 

As in the case of the higher normal schools, an elementary school 
for practice teaching must be attached to each elementary normal 
school, and, in the case of normal schools admitting women, a kinder- 
garten also. Under special circumstances, and with the consent of 
the minister, local authorities may permit the substitution of already 
existent public or private elementary schools or kindergartens con- 
venient of access in place of the required observation and practice 
schools required by law. 

For rapid training of teachers for technical schools a number of 
institutes were founded in 1915-16 which were of the nature of 
schools attached to colleges of the imperial universities and higher 
technical schools, and designed to use the already existent advan- 
tages of buildings, laboratories, and observation schools for the 
teaching of younger pupils. Special ordinances of the Department 
of Education allowed exemption from fees and expenses on the stu- 
dents contracting to serve as teachers in technical schools. 

Japan's system of teacher training is the result of a careful study 
of European institutions. She has borrowed whatever she judged 
best in the educational polity of each country. Her system is there- 
fore of an essentially composite order. Its original features, how- 
ever, constitute a valuable attempt to adopt diverse elements. 

SPECIAL SCHOOLS. 

Mention has been made of the development of certain courses, 
originally incorporated in the curriculum of the higher schools, 
into special courses, and later into independent special schools. 
These are designed to give only advanced training in professional 
subjects ; and only men and women are admitted who have completed 
the prescribed curriculum in middle schools, or in high schools for 
girls, with at least a four years' course, and other men and women 
of maturity and approved attainments. In the case of special 
schools in which fine arts and music are taught admission is left to 
the decision of the minister of education. 

Under this important class of schools the Government maintains 
(a) five special schools of medicine at important points, enrolling 
2,375 students in 1915-16; (h) the Tokyo School of Foreign Lan- 
guages, enrolling 604 students, offering instruction in 12 languages 
and extending over three years or for a shorter course of two years. 
In response to a decided demand, a course in Portuguese was sub- 
stituted in place of Siamese. The enrollment of this school was 604 
pupils, an increase of 14 per cent over the preceding year; (c) the 
Tokyo Fine Arts School, enrolling 547 students, and the Tokyo 
Academy of Music, enrolling 593 students, an increase of 12 per 
cent over preceding year. 



10 . BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

In addition to these governmental schools, five public schools of 
medicine, pharmacy, and fine arts were maintained by communes; 
and 53 in literature and the sciences were maintained by private 
support. 1 

VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS. 

Vocational schools, for the distinctive training of boys intending 
to engage in productive labor such as manufactures, agriculture, and 
commerce, are of five kinds, technical, agricultural, commercial, nauti- 
cal, and continuation. Technical education is offered of primary 
grade, embracing practical subjects in crafts, arts, and sciences, and 
such subjects of study as ethics, Japanese mathematics, general science, 
and gymnastics. Elasticity is given these courses by the addition of 
other subjects demanded by local circumstances, and the dropping 
of still others, except ethics and those bearing directly on the branch 
studied. A subdivision of these is the apprentices' schools, covering 
not less than six months nor more than four years. In the school 
proper the course is not more than three years. 

Great flexibility also is allowed in the qualifications for admis- 
sion, these varying extensively in various localities. Technical edu- 
cation of secondary grade is of similar nature to the primary, but 
more formal, less flexible, and more inclusive of the sciences and 
the theoretical side of technical training. Schools of this grade may 
be attached to any middle school of two years' duration, and special 
courses may be arranged for boys in business or at work. Only pu- 
pils may be admitted to this grade of schools who have attained the 
age of 14 years, graduated from a higher elementary school of two 
years' course, or who possess equivalent attainments. Eequirements 
for teachers in this grade of schools are also quite rigorous. In 
1915-16 the number of technical schools was 9,001, an increase of 
553 over the preceding year, and that of the private technical schools 
was 366, an increase of 20. Approximately 95,000 pupils were en- 
rolled in all schools of this kind, exclusive of continuation schools. 

TECHNICAL CONTINUATION SCHOOLS. 

These schools freely admit graduates of an ordinary elementary 
school, or boys of equal attainments, if not less than 14 years of 
age. In the judgment of the authorities, even this requirement may 
be waived, provided the applicant is under no further obligation 
to attend an ordinary elementary school. Ages and maturity of 
boys in attendance on these schools vary greatly, as do length of 
courses, school periods, season, and hours of the school sessions. 
All are left to the judgment of the individual school authorities. 
These very important schools in 1915-16 enrolled -107,600 male pu- 

1 Figures of enrollment were not available. 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN. 11. 

pils and 89,601 females, an increase of nearly 50,000 of both sexes 
over the preceding year. 

HIGHER EDUCATION. 

No change in the courses or administration of higher education 
is to be chronicled for the year 1915-16, the last for which re- 
ports are available. Among educational ordinances of the ministry 
of public instruction, external to the imperial universities, but 
closely affecting them, was that which placed private and munici- 
pal institutions of higher instruction which comply with standards 
laid down by the ministry on a par with the imperial universities, 
in that the graduates of the former will have equal advantages in 
competing for civil-service positions. This is regarded as a govern- 
mental step entailing far-reaching consequences in Government serv- 
ice. Details of its provisions are as yet unavailable. 

Considerable material and financial extensions are planned for 
the future. The Government intends to devote 11,000,000 yen ($21,- 
931,000) to extend the agencies of higher education, this sum to be 
a continuing expenditure extending over six years from 1919-20 to 
1921-25. Of this sum, 39,500,000 yen ($18,690,750) is to be ex- 
pended on the building and extension of schoolhouses and 4,500,000 
yen ($2,243,250) on the training of teachers. It is proposed that 
the greater part of the latter sum be appropriated to the costs of 
dispatching and maintaining students abroad. 

The proposal is to establish, in addition to the higher educational 
institutions already in existence, 10 high schools, 17 technical and 
commercial schools, 1 foreign-language school, and 1 school of phar- 
macy, besides extending the present colleges and organizing new 
ones. It is expected that the program will be completely carried 
into execution in the course of six years, and that teaching at the 
new institutions will commence in 1925. 

As already reported, the Emperor has contributed the sum of 
10,000,000 yen ($1,985,000) toward the necessary funds, and the 
balance is to be met by public bonds or temporary loans. It may be 
added that in the educational year 1917-18 about 56,000 students 
applied for admission to public and private higher and special 
schools, while the capacity of these schools was only sufficient to ac- 
commodate HjOOO. 1 

JAPANESE EDUCATIONAL WORK IN FORMOSA. 2 
(A sketch of provincial educational administration.) 

The administration of the schools in the island of Formosa by 
the Japanese Department of Education has constituted throughout 
a remarkable record of progress in the face of serious obstacles. 

1 Japan Chronicle of Jan. 8, 1919. 

- This sketch is based upon the report compiled by the Department of Educational 
Affairs of the Government of Formosa, 1916. 



12 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Formosa passed to Japan by cession from China in April, 1895. 
Very similar to the troubles encountered by the United States au- 
thorities upon their occupation of the Philippine Islands, racial 
and religious problems at once asserted themselves, taking shape in 
uprisings and forays on the part of rebellious natives. After two 
months of military activities, the condition of the island was re- 
garded as sufficiently settled to allow the initiation of a system of 
education. The provisional office for the Department of Education 
was accordingly opened in the city of Taihoku; and the active di- 
rector at once proceeded to establish schools in the most suitable 
localities, housed generally in the temple buildings, which were the 
only structures left intact. 

The question of language was at once to the fore. The native 
children of Chinese descent were, of course, averse to learning the 
language of the new rulers. The patience and skill, however, of 
the pioneer teachers were beginning to triumph and to show results, 
when the smouldering opposition again flared out in open violence. 
By preconcerted plot an attack was made upon all remote schools, 
and many teachers were killed. But the plans of the department 
were retarded only for a short time. By imperial ordinance the 
organization of the schools was put under military protection, new 
schools were built, and old ones restored and enlarged. These latter 
consisted entirely of the so-called language institutes, located in the 
larger towns, and grouped around the nucleus of the original native 
private schools, called the " reading and writing hal]s." These lan- 
guage institutes now became the basis of the new system. Recognizing 
as the immediate task the teaching of the Japanese language to the 
native children, the department called for Japanese teachers as vol- 
unteers for the work in Formosa. This picked body of men and 
women received intensive instruction for three months in the native 
Formosan language, and was then distributed among the several 
schools. 

Following up the policy of preparing teachers, preferably native, 
a normal-school department was annexed to the language school 
proper, and to it fell the task of supplying the needed teachers. 

With the pacification of the island, the growth of the elementary 
schools was so rapid that the Government could not wait for the 
first graduates of the newly-established normal schools, and seven 
distinct times the policy of training Japanese volunteers for the 
native schools was repeated. In the very maintenance of the latter, 
innumerable difficulties, inherent in the situation, had to be over- 
come. Chief among these were the fickleness of the native popula- 
tion, which, with the wearing off of the novelty of the schools, 
became wearied with the alien discipline enforced upon them; their 
superstitious and religious scruples ; the dissemination of false 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN. 13 

rumors as to the subjects taught and methods used; the deep-seated 
. antipathy of the influential classes to Japan and all things Japa- 
nese, and their contempt for the Japanese teachers; the hostility on 
the part of the teachers and parents to the elimination of the tradi- 
tionally beloved " reading and writing halls," with their support from 
fees and their exclusive concentration upon the Chinese classics; 
the physical difficulties in the way of attendance even in districts 
reduced to order; and the terrorizing of even favorable parents by 
threats and the violence of predatory gangs. 

In the face of all these difficulties, however, steady progress was 
made. The military impress left upon the schools gradually dis- 
appeared, as the respect of the natives for schools and teachers grew. 
A most important phase of the change of attitude was the reconcilia- 
tion of the natives to Formosan youths taking work in the system. 
The work of these pioneer teachers covers, roughly, three years^ 
closing in 1898, when the Japanese language institutes were formally 
organized into regular public schools. By successive logical steps, 
each of wider scope, the administration of educational affairs in 
Formosa came finally, in 1911, under the control of the educational 
department of the imperial civil Government, which is its present 
status. It operates in two sections, a highly centralized govern- 
mental section, and a locally representative body, composed of men 
of experience, vested with special powers in the matter of school 
support and finances. 

In content and method, practical educational work in Formosa 
has, for compelling reasons of race diversities, grouped itself under 
three headings, named in the order of their establishment by the 
Japanese authorities: (1) Work for the natives of Chinese descent; 
(2) work for the aborigines, and (3) work for Japanese children. 

Education of children of native Formosans of Chinese descent. — 
Elementary general or public education for the children of native 
Formosans of Chinese descent constitutes the keystone of the system, 
and has undergone many modifications and revisions before reach- 
ing its final state. Establishment of new schools had at first been 
made too easy, and had been accompanied by a corresponding laxity 
in providing for their maintenance. The permission of the Gover- 
nor General, instead of. as formerly, the local governor, effected a 
needed centralization, and stopped the duplication of local educa- 
tional plants. The age for attendance was extended to cover from 
7 to 20 years, instead of 16; but only 6 years, under special circum- 
stances shortened to 4, are required; and a latitude of 2 or even 3 
years is allowed beyond the age of 7 years for beginning school. 

The subjects taught in the six compulsory years are identical with 
those in the imperial schools. In the shortened four-year course 
science is omitted. Courses in agriculture, mechanics, and commerce 
are added wherever approved by the authorities. In all these public 



14 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

schools only practical ends are had in view. Their beneficial results 
are everywhere evident. The Japanese and Formosans are brought 
more closely together; the importance of the Japanese language is 
felt more and more keenly. Many public schools have been estab- 
lished at the request of the natives themselves. Another interesting 
formative result that has also manifested itself is the steadily in- 
creasing number of well-trained Japanese teachers attracted to the 
Formosan schools. 

Higher instruction for native boys is represented by a few middle 
schools of four years, admitting boys of 13 who have completed the 
fourth year of the public schools, by girls' schools attached to the 
language schools, and by higher Japanese language departments at- 
tached to the language schools for boys and girls. The unique feature 
of this grade of instruction, induced by difference of conditions from 
those in Japan proper, is the training offered in them for teachers 
of public elementary schools. This is done by means of an annexed 
normal school of two divisions, the higher for prospective Japanese 
teachers, with special training in the native Formosan language, and 
the lower for native teachers. 

Industrial education for native Formosans is provided in the 
Industrial Training Institute, the industrial department of the 
language school at Taihoku, and two experimental farm schools not 
under the Department of Education, but under the direct control 
of the Governor General. A further step is the provision of higher 
general education, combined with the industrial, in the Japanese 
language course of the language school at Taihoku, though, as yet, 
the demand for this by native Formosans is limited. 

An interesting survival from pre-Japanese days, as well as a sig- 
nificant proof of the wisdom of the Japanese authorities, is the exist- 
ence of the " reading and writing halls." These are private schools 
established and conducted by native teachers. They have weathered 
very adverse conditions; they were long regarded by the Japanese 
authorities as dangerous to Japanese rule; and they were often near 
extinction. But they always maintained an influence too strong to 
be ignored. Socially and ethnologically, they are the last and most 
typical representatives of the Formosan civilization. They are 
allowed individual independence and great latitude in courses and 
methods. Each is under the nominal control of the local civil author- 
ity, which generally pursues the good-natured policy of encouraging 
their adoption of modern subjects, especially the Japanese language 
and arithmetic, rather than forcibly compelling it. and seeks by 
tactful methods to bring about a closer acquaintance and union with 
the public-school teachers and schools. The schoolhouse is generally 
the residence of the master, or some buildings connected with the 
local Chinese temple, the religious associations of the school of this 



EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN. 15 

type constituting one of its strongest holds upon the natives. Chil- 
dren are generally admitted at 7 and continue until 14 or 15. The 
center of work is of course the Chinese classics, with no fixed course 
outlined; penmanship is stressed in connection with the literary 
work. Advanced pupils learn recitation, composition, and versifi- 
cation, all rigorously based upon the classics. 

Despite the wishes of the Japanese educational administration, 
these schools increased in the period 1912 to 1915 from 511 to 611, 
and their enrollment from 16,000 to 19,000, in round numbers, an en- 
rollment of almost exactly one-third of the total enrollment of native 
Formosans in the official public schools. This constitutes what is 
apparently the only problem that has baffled the Japanese educa- 
tional department in its career in Formosa. 

Elementary school for aborigines. — Even greater conservatism had 
to be encountered in dealing with the partly civilized aborigines than 
has been seen in the case of the natives of Chinese descent. With the 
sweeping reorganization of the primitive language institutes into the 
public school system, exception had frankly to be made for the 
aborigines. Their primitive language institutes were retained, and 
after many j^ears and tentative modifications, developed into a pub- 
lic school system quite different from that in operation for the 
Chinese descendants. Only four years' attendance is required; the 
subjects taught are only morals, Japanese, and arithmetic. Agricul- 
ture, manual training, and singing may be added, in the case of 
tribes intellectually more advanced. Supreme control is vested in 
the local civil authorities, who are allowed wide discretion in all 
matters concerning these schools. Children are admitted at 8 years 
of age. An encouraging growth in the popularity of these schools, 
and increase in numbers, has been evident. Native aboriginal youths 
have come forward as candidates for teachers; approximately 3,000 
pupils were enrolled in 1915 in 23 schools, an increase of over 500 
pupils since 1913. 

Education of Japanese children in Formosa. — The education of 
Japanese children whose parents are residents of Formosa is con- 
ducted along substantially the same lines as prevail in imperial 
Japan proper. 

For administration purposes, and by imperial ordinance, the 
Governor General of the island corresponds to the imperial pre- 
fectural governor, and the local civil authority to those of towns and 
cities in Japan proper. Encouragement is offered to promising pupils 
to proceed to the imperial schools, and this is made easy by close 
articulation of subjects and courses. It is interesting to note also that 
an increasing number of native Formosan students go each year 
to complete their education in the schools of Imperial Japan. The 
Government is alive to the importance of encouraging this tendency, 



16 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 






and in 1907 the office of student superintendent in Tokyo was created, 
with especial charge of the proficiency and conduct of all Formosan 
students resident in Japan. With this official, the authorities of all 
institutions enrolling Formosan students must closely cooperate. 

As has been indicated, the Japanese Government, soon after its oc- 
cupation of Formosa, recognized that the training of native teachers 
for the native schools was a matter of vital necessity if the natives 
were to be won over to acceptance of the public schools, and, through 
them, of the Japanese rule and language. An index of the attitude 
of the natives in both these respects was constituted by the number 
of Formosan youth who came forward as teacher candidates. Prog- 
ress in this respect has been steady and gratifying, 619 graduates of 
such training having gone into school work in the 13 years of its 
existence. Several local institutions have been abolished. Normal 
instruction for natives is now organized solely in the B (or lower) 
division of the public-school course in the normal-school department 
of the Language School at Taihoku. Candidates from 14 to 23 years 
of age, with certificates of graduation from the six years' public 
school, are admitted after examination upon elementary Japanese 
and arithmetic. The four years' course covers ethics, pedagogy, 
Japanese language, Chinese classics, geography, mathematics, science, 
drawing, music, agriculture, and gymnastics. Manual training and 
commercial subjects are optional. All expenses are defrayed by the 
Japanese Government. " The aim of the educational work of this 
department is to make the graduates the embodiment of the ideal of 
the public-school education which is to bring about the diffusion of 
the Japanese language, the cultivation of the spirit of loj^alty and 
obedience, and the encouragement of the habit of honest labor among 
the people." " The source of general education in Formosa " is the 
significant name bestowed upon it. 

For teachers already actively engaged, teachers' training extension 
work during the summers is systematically forwarded by the educa- 
tion authorities. Under the direct control of the Government, in- 
structors and lecturers travel the round of assigned circuits, a system 
which has advantageously supplanted the old one of gathering many 
pupils into one place. The other side of the work, that done by the 
local authorities, is probably more successful in reaching closely the 
mass of native teachers. All native and Japanese teachers of the dis- 
trict meet, and a point is made of inviting all teachers of the old- 
style " reading and writing halls." Perhaps no other one influence 
is so potent in leading the way to some realization — however embry- 
onic at present — of the essential unity of Japanese education in 
Formosa. 

o 



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